Quenching device

ABSTRACT

This invention is a quenching device for holding or securing a hot circle apertured planar metal workpiece against planar and circular distortion while the hot workpiece is being quenched. It includes a quenching tank, a number of radially outwardly slidable workpiece supporting arms, and an inverted cast iron cone supported on a spider extending through vertical slots in the cone, so that as the spider descends under the control of a fluid motor, the cone first comes to rest through the circle aperture on the workpiece and the spider descends further until it grips the top of the workpiece and holds it down against the supporting arms, which meantime are moving under the weight of the cone and action of the fluid motor down into the quenching medium, the spider thus holding the workpiece against planar distortion, and the cone holding against circular distortion, while it is quenching.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Ralph E. Kawecki Primary Examiner-Gerald A. Dost New Britain, Conn. Attorney-Gustave Miller [2]] Appl. No. 774,620 [22] Filed Nov. 12, 1968 [45] Patented Jan.5, i971 [73] Assignee Southington Manufacturing Inc.

Southington, Conn.

ABSTRACT: This invention is a quenching device for holding corporation Connecticut or securing a hot circle apertured planar metal workpiece against planar and circular distortion while the hot workpiece [54] QUENCHING DEVICE is being quenched. it includes a quenching tank, a number of lo chins, 6 Drawing m radially outwardly slidable workpiece supporting anns, and an inverted cast iron cone supported on a spider extending 266/6 through vertical slots in the cone, so that as the spider 148/153 descends under the control of a fluid motor, the cone first [Ii-m C21! 1/62 comes to rest through the circle aperture on the workpiece [50] Field ofSearch 148/ 12.4, and the spider descends further until it grips the top of the 1533266/44A'66PQ8 workpiece and holds it down against the supporting arms, which meantime are moving underthe weight of the cone and [56] References cited action of the fluid motor down into the quenching medium, UNITED STATES PATENTS the spider thus holding the workpiece against planar distorl,530,805 3/1925 Ayers 266/6 tion, and the cone holding against circular distortion, while it 2,469,146 5/1949 Barnes et al. 148/143 is quenching.

3o r===== 44 ,4; 46 r an I 34 32 40 5 42 i {ii 35 35 48 42 I V l l 48 I 50 l 52 28-"- /a- I a 90 90 e4 84 I6 92 76 94 g f l I? 2| 2 Z '74 m 72 g /4 68 PATENTEU M 51971 85521 sum 1 0F 4 INVENTOR Ralph E. Kowec/r/ ATTORNEY SHEET 2 UF 4 FIG. 30

INVE/VTQR Ralph E. Kawec/r/ ATTORNEY PATENTEUJAN 51971 3552730 sum 3 OF 4 INVENTOR ph E Kawemi ATTORNEY PATENTEU JAN 5m 3.6521730 saw u 0F 4 I INVENTOR medium.

' drawing, in which:

1 v. QUENCHING DEVlCE OBJECTS OF TH rnvENrION It is an object of this invention to provide an improved quenching device for quenching a hot plate or ring having a circular aperture and to so secure it' v'vhilequenching as to prevent circular and planardistortion. 1 V

-A further object of this invention is to provide a quenching device in which-a hot apertured planarmetal plate workpiece may be-placed on a supporting means above a quenching medium in a .tank, and then be gripped,.asif in a vice, against both planar and circular distortion while being depressed into and held in the quenching medium. Still a further object of this inventionis to securely grip a hot apertured metal plate workpiecefs'o-as to prevent circular and planar distortion while it is being inserted into and held in aquenchingmedium.

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a quenching device wherein a fluid operated motor, whether hydraulic or pneumatic, serves to actuate ii gripping means for simultaneously holding ahot circle apertured metal plate workpiece both against circular and planar distortion as it depresses the workpiece into and holds it in the quenching medium during the quenching time, then'releases it permitting a resilient support to lift the workpieceabove the quenching BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIO The quenching device of this invention includes a quenching tank, a crane secured to aside of the tank and extending thereover, a vertically reciprocable fluid motor depending from the crane centrally'over the tank, and a workpiece supporting assembly yieldably extending'above the distortion by a spider which is moved down by the fluid motor carrying a free floating heavy cast iron inverted cone which moves into the circle in the circle apertured workpiece, and by its weight prevent circular distortion, and the spider continues down until it grips and secures the topside of the workpiece against the slidable supporting arms, andcontinues further to then depress the hot workpiece into the quenching medium, and hold it there as long as desired, against a yieldable supporting means for the assembly biased on the bottom of the tank.

BRIEF DESCRlPTlON OFTHE FIGURES With the above and related Objects inyiew, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction .With'the accompanying FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention, with the hot circle apertured metal workpiece in position on the supporting assembly above the quenching medium.

FIG. 2. is a similar view with the workpiece secured in th quenching medium against planar and circular distortion while quenching. 1 a

FIG. 3 is a top elevational view, partly fragmentary and partly broken away. i

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4'of FIG 3.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views-'onl-lines 5-5 and 6-6 of each of FIGS. 3 and 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION O F THE INVENTION straps, the upper metal strap 18 providing a supporting base for two metal washers 24 between which are located two teflon washers 26. Rotatably supported 'orithese four washers 24 and 26 about the tube-22 is a telescopic sleeve 28 to which a handle 29 is secured for rotating the sleeve 28. Extending from the top end of sleeve 28 is achannel-shaped supporting arm 30 having a triangular bar 32 bracing it on the sleeve 28. To the end of channel arm 30 is bolted a pivotal clevis 34 from which depends a cylinder 36 of a fluid motor 38, which may be either hydraulic or pneumatic. A piston 40 in cylinder 36 is positively actuated, up Or down, by fluid from the fluid pressure lines 42 from fluid pressure supplyg43 controlled by con which eight radially extending equally spaced spider arms 54 extend, each spider arm 54 having transverse grooves 56 one its bottom surface permitting circulation of quenching medium 58thercthrough when it is immersed in such medium 58.

An inverted cast iron cone 60 provided with quenching medium circulating openings 62 between eight equally spaced vertical slots 64 through which the spider arms 54 may slide freely, and which, after being inserted in the slots 64, are prevented from coming out of the tops of the slots 64 by bridge plates 66 bolted thereacross,vthus making the cone free floating between the bottoms of the slots 64 and the bridge plates 66 at their tops. Being of cast iron, the cone is obviously of heavyweight construction.

A workpiece supporting assembly 67' is secured to the center of the inside bottom 68 of the tank 12. The assembly 67 includes a stanchion rod 70 about whi'chis placed a strong coil spring 72 biased against the tank bottom,68 and yieldably supporting a telescopic sleeve 74 about the stanchion rod 70. Welded to'the sleeve 74 and flaring upward and outwardly therefrom are four supporting bars'76 bolted'at their top ends at 78 to a cast iron angle iron ring 80 having four outwardly radially extending channel portions 82, each extending into one of the similarly spaced pockets 84 at the top rim of the tank 12, thus making it possible for the tank 12 being somewhat smaller and thus needing less quenching medium 58 to fill it.

Slidablysupported in each channel portion 82 are circle apertured or annular workpiece supporting arms 86 on which a hot workpiece 88, maybe supported for quenching. Each slidable workpiece supporting arm 86 is-urged radially inwardly by a pair of coil springs 90 .on guide pins 91 extending from limiter bars 92. The springs 90 are biased against the limiterbars 92 which are bolted across the outer channel ends of'the channel portions 82, the slidable supporting arms 86 being held in position in channel portions82 by bonnets 94 bolted over the top of each channel portion 82, each arm 86 being provided with a guide groove 96 therein into which extends a stud 98 through the bonnet 94.

In operation, the planar workpiece 88, which has a circle aperture and which may be annular or of any flat shape of suitable size, is placed on the inwardly extending slidable workpiece supporting arms 86 and is supported above the level of the quenching medium 58 by the supporting assembly 67 in the tank 12 yieldably supported by-the spring 70 biased on the tank bottom 68. Then by means of the handle 29, the crane 20 is rotated to support the heavyweight inverted cone 60 centrally over the tank 12 and the workpiece 88.

The control buttons 44 are then operated to cause the fluid motor 38 to lower the cone 60, free floatingly supported on the spider 50, through the circle aperture in the workpiece 88,

the cone descending until it fits within the circle apertured workpiece 88,,which may be externally annular or other suita ble shape, so long as it can fit with the available area,

meanwhile abutting and pressing outwardly the slidable arms 86 against the biasing springs 90, while centralizing the workpiece 88 thereon and then, when the cone is fully supported on the workpiece 88 and arms 86, the spider arms 54 continue to descend until they grip the top surface of the now centralized workpiece and then press the whole workpiece supporting assembly 67 down against the yieldable spring 72 until spring 72 is fully compressed, thus pushing the hot workpiece 88 into the quenching medium 58, while the heavyweight cast iron cone 60 prevents circular distortion and the spider 50 prevents planar distortion during the quenching operation, the fluid motor 38 providing downward pressure as desired to hold the workpiece as if in a vice while quenching.

in the drawings, like numbers refer to like parts, and for the purposes of explicaton, set forth below are the numbered parts of the improved quenching device: quenching device of this invention; 12 quenching tank; 14 lower crane-securing metal strap; 16 middle crane-securing metal strap; 18 upper crane-securing metal strap; 20 crane; 22 crane tube; 24 two upper and lower washers of metal; 26 two intermediate washers of teflon; 28 crane telescopic sleeve; 29 crane-rotation handle; 30 channel-shaped supporting arm on 28; 32 triangular brace bar 30 to 28; 34 pivotal clevis on end of 30; 36 cylinder of 38; 38 fluid motor; 40 piston in 38; 42 fluid pressure lines; 43 fluid pressure supply; 44 fluid pressure control buttons; 46 panel for 43 and 44; 48 connecting rod from 40; 50 spider on 48; 52 spider hub; 54 eight spider arms; 56 transverse grooves on bottom of spider arms 54; 58 quenching medium; 60 cast iron inverted cone; 62 medium circulating openings in 60; 64 vertical slots in 60 for vertical ravel of spider arms 54; 66 bridge plates for slots 64; 67 workpiecesupporting assembly; 68 inside bottom tank 12; 70 central stanchion rod on 68; 72 coil spring about 70; 74 telescopic sleeve biased about 70 on 72; 76 four outwardly flaring upward extending supporting arms; 78 bolts 76 to 80; 80 cast iron angle iron ring; 82 four equally spaced radially outward extending channel portions of 80; 84 four tank rim pockets for 82; 86 four workpiece-supporting slidable arms; 88 hot circle apertured or annular workpiece of metal; 90 two coil springs in each channel portion 82; 92 limiter bar bolted to end of each channel portion 82; 93 guide pins extending from 92 for coil springs 90; 94 bonnets on top of channel portions 82; 96 guide groove in each work-supporting slidable arm 86; and 98 guide stud through 94 into 96.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied.

lclaim:

l. A quenching device for securing a hot circle apertured meta] planar workpiece against planar and circular distortion while quenching comprising a quenching tank, a crane extending thereover having a supporting arm extendable centrally over said quenching tank, a vertically reciprocating motor depending from said crane arm, a motor reciprocable connecting rod vertically depending from said motor, said motor being actuatable to apply continuous downward pressure on said connecting rod, a spider secured on said reciprocable depending connecting rod, a heavyweight inverted cone slidably supported by said spider, said spider having a plurality of spider fingers slidably extending through vertical slots in said cone, means closing the upper ends of said-slots, a planar workpiecesupporting assembly, means yieldably supporting said assembly inside said tank, said assembly'including a supporting ring, a plurality of radially extending workpiece-supporting arms annularly spaced about and slidably supported on said ring, means resiliently biasing said slidable arm inwardly of said ring and limiting the outward movement of saidslidable arms, whereby when said tank is filled with aquenchingmedium and a hot circle apertured workpiece rhe'ta'lplate is supported on said slidable arms, the crane suppotte'd'motor may be operated to lower saidspider into gripping position on said hot workpiece plate, as said cone pushes said slidable arms outward against their resilient means to the limitproyided by the circle aperture in the metal workpiece, said spider-continuing downwardly, biasing said workpiece and workpiecesupporting assembly down against said coil spring about said vertical shaft and securing the workpiece plate within the quenching medium against annular and planar distortion.

2. The device of claim 1, said quenching tank having a plurality of outwardly extending pockets about its upper rim, said workpiece-supporting slidable arms reciprocating into said pockets 3, The device of claim 1, said spider having a plurality of grooves on its under surface permitting access of quenching medium therethrough to said workpiece plate gripped thereby. I t

4. The device of claim 1, said heavy inverted cone having a plurality of quenching medium circulating openings therein.

5. The device of claim 4, said cone being of cast iron.

6. The device of claim 1, said crane having a vertical shaft secured on said tank, a sleeve rotatably supported on said shaft, said supporting arm e extending outwardly from said sleeve, and a handle on said sleeve for rotating said supporting arm to and from over said quenching tank and said workpiecesupporting assembly.

7. The device of claim 1, said assembly yieldable supporting means comprising a vertical shaft centrally supported on the inside bottom of said quenching tank, a yieldable, compressible spring about said vertical shaft biased on said tank bottom, a sleeve about said vertical shaft biased on said coilspring, and a plurality of upwardly, outwardly flaring stanchions secured on said sleeve.

8. The device of claim 1, said motor being a fluid motor comprising a cylinder, a piston reciprocable within said cylinder, fluid pressure providing and retracting means on top and bottom of said piston, said connecting rod extending from said piston through the bottom of said cylinder.

9. The device of claim 1, said slidable-supporting arms biasing means comprising a channel portion of said supporting ring outwardly extending therefrom, said workpiece-supporting arms sliding in said channel portions, a limiter bar secured across the ends of said channel portions, spring means in said channel portions biasing said sliding arms against said limiter bars, guide pins on said limiter bars for said spring means, and bonnets over said channel portions.

10. The device of claim 9, said supporting ring being of angle iron cast iron. 

1. A quenching device for securing a hot circle apertured metal planar workpiece against planar and circular distortion while quenching comprising a quenching tank, a crane extending thereover having a supporting arm extendable centrally over said quenching tank, a vertically reciprocating motor depending from said crane arm, a motor reciprocable connecting rod vertically depending from said motor, said motor being actuatable to apply continuous downward pressure on said connecting rod, a spider secured on said reciprocable depending connecting rod, a heavyweight inverted cone slidably supported by said spider, said spider having a plurality of spider fingers slidably extending through vertical slots in said cone, means closing the upper ends of said slots, a planar workpiece-supporting assembly, means yieldably supporting said assembly inside said tank, said assembly including a supporting ring, a plurality of radially extending workpiece-supporting arms annularly spaced about and slidably supported on said ring, means resiliently biasing said slidable arm inwardly of said ring and limiting the outward movement of said slidable arms, whereby when said tank is filled with a quenching medium and a hot circle apertured workpiece metal plate is supported on said slidable arms, the crane supported motor may be operated to lower said spider into gripping position on said hot workpiece plate, as said cone pushes said slidable arms outward against their resilient means to the limit provided by the circle aperture in the metal workpiece, said spider continuing downwardly, biasing said workpiece and workpiece-supporting assembly down against said coil spring about said vertical shaft and securing the workpiece plate within the quenching medium against annular and planar distortion.
 2. The device of claim 1, said quenching tank having a plurality of outwardly extending pockets about its upper rim, said workpiece-supporting slidable arms reciprocating into said pockets 3, The device of claim 1, said spider having a plurality of grooves on its under surface permitting access of quenching medium therethrough to said workpiece plate gripped thereby.
 4. The device of claim 1, said heavy inverted cone having a plurality of quenching medium circulating openings therein.
 5. The device of claim 4, said cone being of cast iron.
 6. The device of claim 1, said crane having a vertical shaft secured on said tank, a sleeve rotatably supported on said shaft, said supporting arm e extending outwardly from said sleeve, and a handle on said sleeve for rotating said supporting arm to and from over said quenching tank and said workpiece-supporting assembly.
 7. The device of claim 1, said assembly yieldable supporting means comprising a vertical shaft centrally supported on the inside bottom of said quenching tank, a yieldable, compressible spring about said vertical shaft biased on said tank bottom, a sleeve about said vertical shaft biased on said coil spring, and a plurality of upwardly, outwardly flaring stanchions secured on said sleeve.
 8. The device of claim 1, said motor being a fluid motor comprising a cylinder, a piston reciprocable within said cylinder, fluid pressure providing and retracting means on top and bottom of said piston, said connecting rod extending from said piston through the bottom of said cylinder.
 9. The device of claim 1, said slidable supporting arms biasing means comprising a channel portion of said supporting ring outwardly extending therefrom, said workpiece-supporting arms sliding in said channel portions, a limiter bar secured across the ends of said channel portions, spring means in said channel portions biasing said sliding arms against said limiter bars, guide pins on said limiter bars for said spring means, and bonnets over said channel portions.
 10. The device of claim 9, said supporting ring being of angle iron cast iron. 